Bochum boosted their bid to beat the drop as Erhan Masovic headed the only goal of the game in a setback for RB Leipzig's top-four ambitions.

Bochum 1-0 RB Leipzig
Goals: 1-0 Masovic (49’)

Bochum showed they had gained confidence from their first away win of 2023 in Cologne last weekend and looked to take the game to a Leipzig side involved in a fierce battle to make the top four. Takuma Asano snapped a volley wide after 30 seconds, but after riding out some initial pressure Leipzig soon took command of possession. The visitors struggled to threaten an organised Bochum defence regardless, and Timo Werner blazing over in the 22nd minute marked their first shot of the encounter. Werner sought to make amends by producing two dangerous crosses but aside from a wayward Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick and a tame shot from Andre Silva in the box there were no further efforts to note – as Bochum checked Leipzig’s attacking ambitions and kept it goalless at the break.

The hosts went into the second period with a renewed sense of intent and soon forced their way into the lead from a throw-in. Asano's strong header was parried out by Janis Blaswich to centre-back Masovic, who nodded the rebound into the corner of the net to continue his rich scoring run with his fourth goal in seven matches. Leipzig looked to respond, with Szoboszlai and Silva both sending efforts over, then Silva and Werner sending shots into the hands of Manuel Riemann. Buoyant Bochum remained a threat, however, in an increasingly lively affair, with Asano just clearing the crossbar. Dani Olmo had four good late efforts, with an Emil Forsberg header tipped over before Szoboszlai hit the inside of the post as Leipzig pushed for an equaliser they failed to find as Bochum hung on to book two successive Bundesliga wins for only the second time this season.

Match stats

• Masovic is Bochum's highest Rückrunde scorer with four goals. Only Philipp Hofmann has more for the season (seven).
• Asano had four of Bochum's eight shots in this game.
• Bochum recorded their first ever win against Leipzig in their ninth meeting – and scored just their third goal in head-to-head encounters.
• Silva won just one of 17 challenges contested in the first half, in a sign of Bochum’s strong defending.
• Josko Gvardiol and Kevin Kampl jointly had the best passing accuracy of any player on the pitch - 95 percent.
• Leipzig have conceded 17 goals from set pieces this season, which is the second most behind Bochum.

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Teams

Bochum: Riemann - Stafylidis, Ordets, Masovic, Soares (Heintz 58') - Stöger (Förster 70'), Losilla (c), Osterhage - Asano (Kunde 70'), Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei (Holtmann 70')
Unused subs: Esser, Osei-Tutu, Janko, Lampropoulos, Broschinski
Out: Gamboa (knee), Grave (shoulder), Schlotterbeck (ill), Zoller (thigh)
Coach: Thomas Letsch

Leipzig: Blaswich - Simakan (Henrichs 71'), Orban (c), Gvardiol, Halstenberg (Raum 82') - Szoboszlai, Laimer (Haidara 82'), Kampl, Werner (Olmo 70') - Silva, Poulsen (Forsberg 68')
Unused subs: Nyland, Klostermann, Raum, Ba
Out: Diallo (knee), Gulacsi (knee), Nkunku (thigh), Schlager (ankle)
Coach: Marco Rose

About the clubs

VfL Bochum 1848

Vonovia Ruhrstadion

RB Leipzig

Red Bull Arena